Primary school's pupil numbers to be boosted by 60

Sixty new places are to be created at a primary school under a £1m programme that will see new traditional classrooms built and existing provision refurbished.

The places at Perry Hall Primary School in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, will be spread across two new 30-pupil classes, one in Year 3 and one in Year 5, and have been created to address what the city council calls "significant" demand.

Wednesfield is one of the city's four "school planning areas" - the locations used to manage school capacity.

The council said the number of pupils in each primary year group, when expressed as a total across the city, had historically grown by about 300 from the start of their primary education to the end.

The city's Year 5 cohort had already grown by nearly 340 pupils according to the same data.

The current Year 2 cohort had grown by nearly nine classes in three years and the city's Year 1 cohort had already increased by nearly six class sizes in two years.

Key Stage Two classes – Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 – had increased beyond the historical average, with the latter three year groups all rising by more than 11 full classes.

A council report said: "In recent years, there has been a significant increase in demand for in–year primary school places, and this is not abating.

"This is due to a combination of factors including migration, regeneration and housing, and the popularity and Ofsted ratings of Wolverhampton schools.

"To meet this demand, additional places are required throughout the city."

The council said Perry Hall Primary School had shown it continued to provide an education that "reflected the evolving and increasingly complex needs of the pupils" and planned to refurbish and build 'traditional' classrooms rather than install "modular" temporary buildings.

"In recent years, several small group rooms have been established adjacent to Key Stage One and Two classrooms, to allow pupils to work with teachers in smaller numbers outside of the traditional class bases," it said.

"This has allowed the school to support children with progress, who may be disadvantaged or vulnerable."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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